Work

Detection and attribution of climate extremes in the observed record

Year: 2016

Type: article

Abstract: We present an overview of practices and challenges related to the detection and attribution of observed changes in climate extremes. Detection is the identification of a statistically significant change in the extreme values of a climate variable over some period of time. Issues in detection discussed include data quality, coverage, and completeness. Attribution takes that detection of a change and uses climate model simulations to evaluate whether a cause can be assigned to that change. Additionally, we discuss a newer field of attribution, event attribution, where individual extreme events are analyzed for the express purpose of assigning some measure of whether that event was directly influenced by anthropogenic forcing of the climate system.

Source: Weather and Climate Extremes

DOI: 10.1016/j.wace.2016.01.001

Authors: David R. Easterling, Kenneth E. Kunkel, Michael F. Wehner, Liqiang Sun

Institutions: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, North Carolina State University, Cooperative Institute for Climate and Satellites, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Language: English

Topic: Climate variability and models

Subfield: Global and Planetary Change

Field: Environmental Science

Domain: Physical Sciences

SDG: Climate action

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $3,969